The moment that inspired this question:

A long time ago I was playing an MMO called Voyage of the Century Online. A major part of the game was sailing around on a galleon ship and having naval battles in the 1600s.

The game basically allowed you to sail around all of the oceans of the 1600s world and explore. The game was populated with a lot of NPC ships that you could raid and pick up its cargo for loot.

One time, I was sailing around the western coast of Africa and I came across some slavers. This was shocking to me at the time, and I was like “oh, I’m gonna fuck these racist slavers up!”

I proceed to engage the slave ship in battle and win. As I approach the wreckage, I’m bummed out because there wasn’t any loot. Like every ship up until this point had at least some spare cannon balls or treasure, but this one had nothing.

… then it hit me. A slave ship’s cargo would be… people. I sunk this ship and the reason there wasn’t any loot was because I killed the cargo. I felt so bad.

I just sat there for a little while and felt guilty, but I always appreciated that the developers included that detail so I could be humbled in my own self-righteousness. Not all issues can be solved with force.

  • 𝔄 𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔢𝔫𝔱 𝔭𝔦𝔢𝔠𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔢𝔰𝔢@lemmy.world
    58·
    9 months ago

    Spec Ops: The Line

    It’s story is based on Heart of Darkness, the same book Apocalypse Now was based on, so they share some commonalities.

    Gameplay wise it’s a pretty standard 3rd person cover shooter, nothing really memorable.

    But man that game fucks with your head and expectations of a shooter. While you mow down hordes of fellow American soldiers who have gone AWOL with their commander, the tone of the game constantly shifts ever so slightly. You lose people from your team, you get to be more and more vengeful and violent. And at first you think nothing of it, because that’s almost every shooter I’ve played.

    But they let you see yourself in a mirror, so to say.

    I think the first time it really hit me was when on one of the loading screen tooltips, that usually said stuff like “You can throw grenades back.” or “Flank your enemies.” it just said “Do you feel like a hero yet?”. Felt like I’d been punched in the gut. It gets more and more intense from there and I can’t really describe it all, because it’s been a decade or so and it was mostly the sum of a lot of smaller things.

    I know some people called it corny and pretentious but it really stuck with me.

    • mrmeanlionman@lemmy.ca
      27·
      9 months ago

      It’s a shame about the game’s uninspiring name and generic box art. Probably kept a lot of people from playing it. I only played it on a recommendation like yours.

      • Blackmist@feddit.ukEnglish
        31·
        9 months ago

        I think a lot of the genericness is part of it.

        It’s supposed to feel like every other game, until it doesn’t. The name, the plot, the art, the genetic cover shooter gameplay. It’s even got Nolan North voicing the main character.

        I think the first time I noticed something was amiss was when some civilian darted out in front of me and I riddled her with bullets. No red X’s, no “do not kill civilians” messages. Just the game silently going “well, I won’t tell if you don’t…”

    • RagnarokOnline@reddthat.comOP
      14·
      9 months ago

      That game is probably one of the best mind-fucks in gaming. The white phosphorous scene for me was so powerful that I immediately went into Youtube and looked up how other streamers reacted to it.